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Dolly lauds impact of Pirates duo

Cape Town - South Africa's national Under-23 captain, Keagan Dolly, has hailed the impact of Orlando Pirates duo Menzi Masuku and Gift Motupa.

The two featured for the junior national team as they got their CAF under-23 Championship back on track with a 3-2 victory over Zambia on Tuesday.

The Pirates pair only joined the squad after the first game of the tournament, a 3-1 defeat against host nation Senegal, and immediately had a positive effect on the team.

Masuku and Motupa shared all the goals in the win over the Zambians as the South Africa side kept their Olympic dream alive.

Dolly said: "We were disappointed after the first game, not only because we lost but because we did not play good football. We started singing before the game [against Zambia] and you could see that the team was focused.

"The addition of Menzi and Gift was really good. In the first game we lacked in creativity going forward, and when they came in they gave us the creativity we needed.

"We have some insight on how Tunisia play. They have a good team. They are physical, but if we stick to our game I believe we can win. Hopefully, we can take momentum and the same spirit into the next game."

The top three teams in the CAF Championships qualifies for the Rio Olympics next year, with South Africa facing a do or die clash against Tunisia on Friday.

Kick-off is at 17:00 (SA time).

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